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18 March 2014

My daughter decided that, since my book is called TWELVE STEPS, we absolutely have to do something to celebrate the release for each of the twelve days leading up to the big day.
So of course, we have lots of fun family celebrations planned, all
linking to our favorite scenes and the lines that make us grin. However,
as we were planning our activities, we realized that most of our
celebrations only make sense if you've read the book. And we didn't want
to spoil the surprise of our favorite scenes by explaining all of the
inside jokes. But of course, we wanted to include all of you too!

So
each day for the twelve days leading up to March 25, we'll be sharing non-spoilery
favorite quotes with a new teaser graphic every day. And each day, I'll
share something special and book-related with you as well: recipes,
sneak peeks, giveaways and more!

They always say you should write what you know. I don't know who "they" are, but I must admit, I had a ton of fun fitting in snippets of real life as I was writing TWELVE STEPS. I thought about sharing with you a page from my actual teenage diary that directly inspired a scene in TWELVE STEPS, but there were so many identifying phrases that I thought it might embarrass the real people involved in the making of that scene, so I'll leave you to guess and to wonder which TWELVE STEPS scene was inspired by real-life events. (There may or may not be more than one.)

A couple of weeks ago, in a discussion among members of Rachel Harris'
Flirt Squad (of which I'm a proud member!), I mentioned that I always
had a list of current crushes, so I wouldn't have to focus my full
attention on any one boy. (It was safer that way. If my crush turned out
to be a jerk, I could simply remove him from my list, and I had nine
others ready to take his place in my heart.) So today, I'll share this peek at another page of my teenage diary (names changed to protect the innocent). Boy #3 and Boy #4 both make appearances in TWELVE STEPS. Think you'll be able to figure out who they are?

In case you can't read my messy handwriting, it says:

"Well, it's April Fool's Day (& sister's birthday). How thrilling. I feel like crying for some reason. Last night at work, Boy #1 looked very, quite gorgeous! I never got to talk to him, but I'm just about positive he was watching me. Every time I glanced in his direction, he was looking straight at me, & he'd smile & raise his eyebrows or wave or something. "And Boy #2 was being a sweetie too. (He got purple contacts, & his eyes look cool! Thought I'd mention it, even though it's way off the subject.) In fact, everyone was being really nice to me last night. Cool, huh?"I'm obsessed with Boy #3 since Saturday. I keep seeing the scene when he 1st asked me to dance, over & over again in my mind. I can hardly think of anyone or anything but Boy #3. I still do love Boy #4, & I think about him often, & I miss being able to see him so much. But I'm not (& never was) "obsessed" with him this way! I admit, I do get a little "obsessed" whenever he's mad at me, but not this bad! And I'm never "obsessed" this way. Sure, I love Boy #4, but like a brother or a close friend. I don't love Boy #3, or even claim to. He just drives me crazy, & for some reason, I can't stop thinking about him!"

Pure poetry, right? Is it any wonder I became an author, when even my private diaries were so well-written? ;)